I'm Going Away
by 6Troublemakers
Summary: Erika is a shy girl trying to make it while studying abroad in a foreign country. She thinks that all her life will be is studying, but when a language block stops her from being with the only man who she has loved since her previous boyfriend's tragic accident she decides to stop studying and start doing. Based off of my own experiences studying abroad in Germany my senior year :)
1. Chapter 1

** So it's not really my thing to start one story while I'm still trying to finish another, but this just came to me about my own studies abroad in Germany and I have to get it down before I forget! In this story, ****Erika is Liechtenstein and Laura is Belgium. Abel is the Netherlands****.(human names were never assigned but using "Liechtenstein" and "Belgium" is impersonable to me). So please enjoy **** this may be a one shot.**

The tension in the car was heavy, and Erika had so much to say just not enough words to say it. She was learning a new foreign language and decided to study abroad on a whim, because Gilbert had always wanted her to, because she now could. She was so horribly exhausted from her trip, and even more emotionally exhausted.

Laura was her new host sister, and she was absolutely gorgeous. Her short blonde hair seemed to fall perfectly, despite her protests that she "just woke up". Abel was her host brother, or so she presumed, because Laura had only said that she lived with her brother, no parents involved. And Abel certainly seemed old enough to take care of them both. Abel was a man of few words, but he seemed to love Laura deeply, and he seemed gentle despite his rough exterior.

"Do you like shopping?" Laura asked happily turning around in the front seat to face Erika. Erika was about to speak her native tongue, but then stopped herself and carefully worded her reply inside her head so as to not sound stupid to her new host family.

"Yes, I like it a lot," Erika offered. She wondered if she said it correctly, and she bit her lip waiting on Laura's reply.

"Great! We can go tomorrow after you've rested," Laura cheerfully replied.

"Thank you very much," Erika replied graciously. So far so good, she hadn't messed up anything yet. Or to her knowledge she hadn't. Learning how to say things in one language and a bunch of vocabulary words is completely different than trying to convey how you really feel on a whim without any thought. Expressions Erika knew in her native tongue were not known in her new home, and vice versa.

When Abel had pulled up to the house, which upon a second look was actually a duplex. Erika took notice of its' cheerful demeanor and how it was nestled behind the safety of a house in front of it. It was late summer, and in a week she'd start her new school. A new home, and a new school. It was hard to take it all in. But still, she was happy with her decision to study hard and to study abroad.

"Abel will take your stuff for you, I'll show you to your room," Laura touched Erika's arm in a polite manner as Erika was climbing out of the car.

"A-are you sure? I can take it if Abel doesn't want to do it," Erika looked uneasily to Abel, who was already opening the trunk to their little BMW.

"I've got it," Abel mumbled in reply. Laura smiled and nodded towards her brother, who was already unloading Erika's bags with a purpose.

"Thank you," Erika quickly added once she got past the initial shock of his kindness. Laura motioned for her to come along, and Erika walked up the brick stairs to their little home. Laura held open the door for Erika and Erika nodded in thanks. She walked into the house and found a tiny hallway that opened to the living room and an entrance to the kitchen was on her right. She wasn't sure where to go, so she turned to Laura for direction.

"Here, I'll show you around and then I'll show you where you'll be living," Laura started up the marble stairs next to the living room and Erika followed, after peeking her head in at the living room. There was a TV and a not worn out, but a very loved and used couch with a recliner perpendicular to it.

The upstairs was tiny, Laura pointed to a door to the right of the stairs. "This is my bathroom," she pointed to a room directly beside the bathroom, "and this is my room." She pointed to a room to the left of her bedroom, "That's the office, or library as we like to call it," she giggled and continued left to point to another door. "Next to the library is my brother's room, and next to his room is the junk room,"

"Junk room?" Erika asked, she thought of how the words translated directly into her native tongue and she wondered if it had a different meaning here.

Laura giggled, "Or the room where we put everything we have no idea what to do with," Erika nodded, finally understanding what she meant.

"So let's go to the attic, but we like to call it the loft," Laura winked at her and took the stairs next to the junk room. The wooden stairs squeaked under her weight and Erika wondered quietly why the stairs hadn't broken yet, but she followed nevertheless.

Laura motioned to the room, which had a TV with a couch and bean bag chairs surrounding it with a game console and two racks full of DVDs and games next to the TV. There appeared to be a bathroom in the corner of the room, judging by the open door of course.

"This is where I hang out with my friends," Laura told Erika. Then she motioned to the open door, "and that's my brother's bathroom." Erika nodded, not knowing whether to say "cool" or something else to show her pleasure at getting a full tour of the house.

"So now I'll show you to your room, it's the basement, I hope you don't mind," she started to bound down the stairs and Erika rushed to follow her.

"We wanted you to have your own floor where you could do whatever you want, but I hope you don't mind if the washing machine and drier are down there, we had nowhere else to put them," Laura took flight after flight of stairs very quickly, and Erika tried to keep up with her. Soon they were on their way down to the basement.

Erika stepped onto the tiled floor of the basement and waited for Laura to speak again. "This is your room," she pointed to a bedroom. "And next to it is your bathroom. The washer machine and drying machine are in the room directly in front of us. Feel free to do your laundry any time you want, we won't charge you," she smiled, obviously pleased with her joke. But the lighthearted joke appeared to be lost in translation and Erika just nodded.

"Thank you so much for letting me stay here,"

Laura smiled touched Erika's hand, "I'm so happy you're here! I've always wanted a sister," Erika was so touched by Laura's words, because she too never had a sister. She only had a brother like Laura, but he had long since grown up and she was much younger than him.

Abel came stumbling down the stairs, trying to balance Erika's bags in his arms.

"Oh Abel! Right on time! I just showed Erika to her room, would you put her bags in her room?" Laura opened the door to Abel and motioned for him to walk in. Abel grumbled and did as he was told; Erika noted that Abel always listened to his sister, even if she was younger than him.

Erika entered her room for the first time and she saw the large window that let in light and she could see a path with trees by the house. She approached the window and looked out of it, she then turned around to take in the rest of her room. There was a full sized bed with a purple comforter on it pressed up against the wall. A book shelf was next to the—now her—bed and it had a lamp on it.

Laura plopped herself on Erika's bed. "So what do you think? Do you like it? I wasn't sure if you liked purple, and if you don't like it we can go buy you a new one," Laura awaited Erika's response excitedly. Erika had to think of a reply before responding.

"Yes, I like it a lot. And I like purple, so don't worry about it," she gave Laura a smile, which Laura returned.

"So I was thinking tomorrow after we go shopping we should meet my friends at the mall so that you meet some people. Sound good?" Laura was bouncing on the bed with excitement.

Erika nodded, "I'd like that a lot, thank you so much for thinking of me," Laura squealed and jumped off the bed. She gave Erika a hug and when she pulled away she had her hands on Erika's shoulders still.

"This is going to be so much fun!" she beamed. Then she dropped her arms and looked at Erika's bags on the floor. "Well I'll leave you to unpack. Dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes—Abel's already on it—but if you don't want to come up I'll totally understand too," Laura waited to Erika's response, and something about her anticipation made Erika realize that she couldn't refuse such a nice girl.

"Dinner sounds great, I'll be up as soon as I'm done," Erika assured sure.

"Great! If you need anything, just let me know," Laura was already almost out the door by now, and when she was out the door she closed it behind her. Erika could hear her bounding up the stairs even from the basement.

Erika took a look around her new room and saw a wardrobe in the corner and a chest of drawers to put her clothes in. On the chest of drawers there was a TV and a TV guide, Laura and Abel had really thought of everything when they decided to host her. Erika sauntered over to her bags and opened a pouch with purpose. She pulled out a picture frame and set it on her book shelf next to her bed. She gazed upon the picture for a moment nostalgically before deciding to return to the rest of her bags, so that she wouldn't have to unpack later.

She was nervous about making friends, and she was nervous about her new home. She knew that the culture was totally different than that of what she was used to, and she didn't know what to expect.

She unpacked her laptop and her cellphone and charger next and then continued to unpack the rest of her belongings.

**Maybe not an entertaining start to the story… But this is how it is when you first come to a host family's home **** I'll post a second chapter along with the first chapter so please don't let this turn you off to the story! And as some of you may know, I'm a sucker for crack pairings! 3 just a heads up **** but some Hetalia character's personalities just flow so well together… Can't help it.**


	2. Chapter 2

** Hm. Second chapter? Anyone bored yet? Which reminds me, I have a funny story about German! (you can stop reading and skip to the story if you want now) **** So it turns out that not everything translates into English (*gasp* nooooooo . .) and the Germans have this saying "Du gehst mir auf den Keks," which literally translate to "You get on my cookies". I was a senior in high school at the time of my first study abroad trip and I looked up "Keks" in the dictionary. And it meant cookies, so I was confused and I finally asked: "Who goes to your cookies?" and then someone explained it to me **** ooooh languages… Anyway. Story time.**

"So now that we've visited every single store, do you want to drop off our bags at the car and meet everyone?" Laura asked. She was holding a few shopping bags from an array of stores, and Erika had even more bags than her, because Laura assured her that her clothes would not cause her to fit in. Erika didn't know that fashion varied from place to place, she thought that her usual yoga pants would cut it. But then again, yoga pants barely cut it where she was from, but since she lost Gilbert she could barely get herself up in the morning, let alone try to look decent.

"Okay, sounds good. Should I change into some of the new stuff we bought?" Erika asked. She wanted to look presentable for Laura's friends, this was a make or break situation for her. First impressions were always crucial.

Laura stopped to look at Erika, and she studied her long and hard. "Well those leggings are fine as is, but I'd suggest you wear that pale pink sweater you got with that black scarf you got,"

Erika looked in her shopping bags to dig out exactly what Laura suggested. She found the pale pink sweater and black sparkly eternity scarf. After digging it out and peeling her baggy sweatshirt over her head she put on the pink sweater over her black tank top and the scarf. Laura and her then walked to the car and Laura called her friends when they were about to reenter the mall again.

"Yeah, just meet us at the food court, we'll be there in five," Laura said into her cell phone. She was walking quickly beside Erika, who was barely keeping up. When Laura hung up she stopped and turned to Erika.

"You're going to love my friends! They're great! I can't wait for you to meet them," Laura told her excitedly. Erika noticed that Laura always seemed to be excited and happy; she wished that she was Laura.

The two girls cut across a department store and soon made their way to the food court. Laura stopped and scanned the area before finding whom she was looking for leaning against the railing. She waved over to them and they waved back.

"Those are my friends over there Erika," Laura grabbed her elbow and pulled her along. Erika was greeted with a bunch of new faces, and she immediately became nervous.

"Hey guys, this is my host sister, Erika," Laura introduced her right off the bat, not even bothering to say hi to her friends. They all mumbled hellos and smiled, some more genuine than others.

"Erika this is Elizabeta," she pointed to a gorgeous girl with long brown hair and the girl smiled in greeting. Erika smiled back, or at least tried to, she was so nervous that she didn't know what her face was doing.

"And that's her boyfriend Roderick, they've been together for as long as anyone can remember," Laura explained. A sophisticated man with brown hair and glasses nodded to her and she nodded back. At least she could handle nodding.

"The one who looks extremely bored and aloof is Heracles," Laura batted her eyes in the direction of a tall man with messed hair and an exhausted look on his face. Erika managed a little smile in his direction, and she was greeted by a confused look from the subject of her smile. She immediately felt hurt, taking this as rejection.

"The mean looking one is Lovino," Laura went on without batting an eyelash. The boy named Lovino grumbled and looked away angrily. Erika noticed that he really did seem to be mean looking.

"And that awkward one by Lovino is Antonio," Laura concluded. Erika shifted her gaze from Lovino to Antonio, but she noticed that his gaze seemed to be stale, like he had been staring at her for a long time. He seemed either mesmerized or confused by her, she wasn't sure which.

She decided to say hello to him, since he seemed the most friendly at this point, "Nice to meet you," she added quietly.

"Y-You," Antonio sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, looking flushed. "Nice to meet you too," he managed to get out. He mentally cursed himself for saying something so stupid and making a bad first impression.

"So," Laura clapped her hands together and everyone in the group turned to look at her. "I'm hungry, so let's go get something to eat," Laura didn't say it as a suggestion, but more as an order, of which everyone followed. Erika noticed how Laura's presence was one that demanded respect and she had a profound effect on everyone around her. Erika wished once more that she was as gorgeous and outgoing as Laura.

The group started to walk over to the food court, and Erika looked around at the different foods, the only thing that she seemed to recognize was McDonalds, but even that was universal. Everyone had already mostly abandoned her, Roderick and Elizabeta went to some restaurant in the corner that Erika had no idea what it was. Laura stayed by Erika's side though, and she was chatting with Heracles and Lovino, Antonio just stood there, taking in his surroundings.

"So what looks good to you?" Antonio asked close to Erika's ear. She almost jumped from his hot breath on her ear and her surprise at his voice. She hadn't even noticed him next to her.

"Um, I'm not sure," Erika honestly replied.

"Well there's always döners," Antonio suggested, looking at a Turkish restaurant in front of them.

"Döners? What are those?" Erika cocked her head to the side as she asked the question. For the first time Antonio noticed how beautiful she was up close, her skin was almost flawless and her green eyes shone brightly up at him.

He swallowed hard, trying to regain his composure. "Well it's like a Greek gyro, just try it, you'll like it," he smiled brightly at her.

Heracles caught wind of the conversation and spoke up in distaste, "You won't like those, Turkish food is gross," he scrunched his nose as if to prove his point.

Laura reached over and hit him, "Don't say that! She needs to try new things! That's the whole point of being an exchange student!" she chided.

She turned to Erika next, "Don't worry about it, you go try it out. I'm sure Antonio wouldn't lead you astray,"

Erika wasn't sure what a few words Laura said meant in her native tongue, but she nodded anyway. Antonio grinned widely before walking with Erika to the Turkish restaurant. He went up to the employee at the register and ordered a döner kebab. He looked around for Erika, who was behind him and he motioned for her to come join him.

"What do you want, Erika?" Antonio asked. Erika looked at the menu, but decided to follow Antonio.

"I'd like to try a döner kebab as well," she spoke to Antonio.

Antonio looked at the employee and ordered another döner for Erika. Erika looked at him in shock, especially when he pulled out his credit card to pay.

"A-Antonio, you don't have to pay, I've got it," Erika insisted, but it was too late, the employee swiped his card and gave it back to him.

"I don't mind, I'd hate for you to pay for something that you don't like," he smiled at her before returning his card to his wallet.

Erika nodded, "Thank you so much for this," perhaps she was over grateful, but Antonio noticed how she looked so touched by his kindness, and he decided that he wanted to make her happy like this again.

"It's no problem," he assured her. Together they stood in silence waiting for their food to be ready. Erika wanted to say something to Antonio, but she wasn't sure if she'd get it right, silence was her best bet at this point. Once their food arrived Antonio carried it over to the table where the rest were sitting and Erika took a seat across from him.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Lovino asked. He was staring at his food distastefully. Erika noticed how he seemed to hate almost everything.

"Can we come over and watch movies?" Elizabeta asked Laura.

"Yeah I'm sure Abel wouldn't care," Laura shrugged.

"But will Erika care?" Heracles asked in a disinterested tone.

Laura quickly turned to Erika, not answering Heracles but instead talking to Erika herself, "Do you mind if they come over tonight?"

Erika had never been asked permission to have peoples in someone else's home, so she wasn't sure how to reply. She looked at Antonio, because she could feel his gaze on her again. Antonio had hopeful eyes, so she felt obligated to shake her head.

"I wouldn't mind it at all," she told Laura, in turn smiled very big.

"Great! So we're going to go home after this and you guys can come over whenever," Laura already planned out exactly how this evening was going to go, and she was pleased that Antonio and Erika had seemed to hit it off.

While everyone was in the loft, Erika was downstairs taking the tags off of her new clothes and putting them in the wash, along with her clothes for the previous day. She was so nervous about her language skills that she didn't want to spend any more time with Laura and her friends. Besides, she was just a forced host sister and she had no business intruding on their get togethers.

And plus she wanted to talk to her picture of Gilbert that was sitting on her book shelf. He had only been gone for about six months, but she still missed him every day. Their would-be anniversaries killed her the most, and she tried to visit his grave as much as possible. But she knew that he would've wanted her to follow her dreams of studying abroad.

"So it's my second day here," she told the picture of a smiling Gilbert in a hushed tone. The last thing she wanted to be was dubbed as crazy on her second day here.

"And I'm not sure if Laura's friends like me or if they're just trying to be nice to me. Maybe I can make new friends at my new school when I start in about a week," she wasn't sure why she paused after saying this. Maybe she wanted Gilbert to reply, but he hadn't replied to her since he passed away. Erika then decided to give it up and she crawled into bed and laid his picture next to her so that she could have him by her side.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm sorry guys, but cheer will always be the love of my life (3), and it has to show up in every story I write! And plus, I was a cheerleader at the time of my arrival in Germany. **** I just wish they had school sports here, I would totally be a cheer coach! And with the teacher's name, it just seemed to fitting. I had a teacher like him in Germany. Heh heh, you'll see who I chose for the teacher! ;) couldn't help it.**

It was the first day of school, but Erika wished it wasn't. Sure the school days were shorter and there was no lunch period because school got out before lunch, so at least the stress of finding someone to sit with at lunch was relieved. She felt like everyone in school was staring at her, probably because she popped up out of nowhere over the summer holiday, which she was told was very short compared to the summer holidays in her native country.

When she finally found her way to her homeroom she was without Laura. Laura and she were dropped off at school by Abel, who went to work right after dropping them off, but Laura ran off with Heracles and Lovino somewhere and Erika had lost her. She tried to find her first period class without help, and she followed the room numbers to her homeroom. She double checked her paper schedule to make sure that this was the right room. Upon confirming, she let out a deep breath and walked inside.

The room was set up not by desks but by a few long tables with about eight seats around it. She saw Antonio in a seat next to Roderick and Elizabeta, but she didn't feel like she had the right to approach her host sister's friends and act like they were her own. She opted for sitting at a mostly empty table with people who acted like they were less than pleased to see her sit by them.

She wasn't usually shy, but her lack of confidence in her language skills caused her to come across that way. Normally she'd go out and try to make friends, but this was a different country now. She had to do as the Romans do so to speak.

When the first bell rang the teacher greeted the class and told the class he hoped that they had a good holiday. He looked at his attendance roster and started taking attendance. Erika knew that her name would be last and she waited patiently for her name to be called.

"Erika Zwingli," the teacher unsurely called.

Erika raised her hand, "Here," she answered.

"Hey Erika! Why don't you come sit over here?" Antonio asked, waving towards her. He didn't understand why she didn't come to sit by them, he thought that they were friends now.

Erika looked unsurely to the teacher, not sure if she could or not. Should she ask? She wasn't sure.

"Mr. Yao could Erika move over here?" Antonio spoke out of turn. The teacher turned around and rested his kind dark eyes on Erika, who met his gaze right back.

"Is this a new student?" Mr. Yao asked.

"She's a foreign exchange student, sir," Elizabeta respectfully told him.

"Why don't you come up here and tell us about yourself," Mr. Yao was leaning against his desk by the white board and staring at Erika with interest. It wasn't usual for the school to get foreign exchange students.

"Oh n-no, I'm not good at public speaking," Erika nervously protested.

"Come on Erika, tell us about your life," Antonio encouraged with an ever present smile. He wanted to waste class time first of all, and he wanted to know more about the quiet Erika. She had struck his fancy from the very beginning.

"Well alright," Erika finally consented. She got up and stood in front of the class by the white board.

"What do you want to know?" she turned to ask the teacher once she was in front of the class.

"Well what's school like for you in your country?" Mr. Yao shrugged like he wasn't sure what he wanted to know, he just wanted to know.

"Well school starts at 7:15 and goes until 2:15. Then comes sports in the afternoon, then homework, and then do it all over again the next day," she told the class. She was sure she was boring them to death with her uneventful life.

"What kind of sports?" Mr. Yao asked, trying to get her to talk to not only gauge her language comprehension but learn ways to connect with her.

"Cheerleading, if that counts," she made a face of unsureness, she wasn't sure what the word "cheerleading" was in this foreign language.

"What's 'cheerleading'?" a girl asked. She tried her best to pronounce "cheerleading" but she butchered it pretty badly. If Erika wasn't so nervous about her language flop she would've laughed at how the girl pronounced it.

"Um," Erika bit her lip and looked sideways in thought. "Have you ever seen 'Bring It On'?" Erika resolved to ask.

"Oh yeah!" another girl spoke up. "You do that kind of stuff? Like flips and holding people?"

Erika thought of her team back at her school. They were a pitiful team, they had only ever gotten runner up in regionals, but that was because they were coed and it was easy to win as a coed team but hard to win as an all-girls team—because let's face it, those girls came out of the womb tumbling.

"Yeah, kind of like that," Erika's faith in her language abilities were wavering, and she was thoroughly embarrassed on her first day of school.

"That's so cool!" the girl swooned. Erika wasn't sure if the girls in this country knew that cheerleaders were the brunt of everyone's jokes and the object of ridicule by girls who felt that they were above cheerleading and had rejected the idea of a cheerleader before cheerleaders had a chance to accept or reject them. But her thoughts shut off when the teacher thanked her for her speech and she was able to sit down again. However, she didn't sit by Antonio, she stayed in her seat for fear of causing more problems on her first day of school.

The school day went by surprisingly fast, and it was already one o'clock and time to go home. The lessons were short, only about 45 minutes each and she didn't move classrooms, the teachers moved classrooms. Sitting in a seat for such a long period made her anxious and she was relieved that she could finally get up and move around once the bell rang.

She pulled out her cellphone and looked through her contacts for Laura's number, but Elizabeta approached her instead. "Hey we just talked to Laura and we're all going out for lunch today after school, we'd love it if you would come with us," she was offered Erika a gorgeous friendly smile. Erika noted that she had Laura and Elizabeta to be jealous of, both of them were so kind and far more beautiful than she ever considered herself to be. Why were girls here so beautiful?

"You'd really let me come?" Erika asked, visibly touched by the offer.

"Aw," Elizabeta put her hand to her chest, happy that Erika was so touched by her offer. "You're so cute! Of course we'd let you come, you're one of us now,"

"O-oh. Thank you so much. Where should I meet you guys?" she asked. She wasn't sure if they wanted to be seen with her but the thoughtfulness of the offer still had her giddy with excitement.

"Don't meet us, come with us," Elizabeta told her with her ever present smile. It seemed that all of Laura's friend had a knack for smiling.

"Oh, thank you," Erika dumbly replied, still shocked from her kindness. She followed Antonio, Roderick, and Elizabeta out of the room to find Laura, Lovino, and Heracles.

Erika stared up at the menu hanging over the food counter, trying to decide what sounded best to her. "Everything at this place is good, so you can order whatever you want," Laura told her.

"Is the pizza any good?" Erika asked, apparently not hearing what Laura said about everything being good.

"Yeah! We can split one if you want," Laura offered.

Erika nodded, "I'd like that," Laura walked up to the counter and ordered a pizza for her and Erika.

The lunch with Laura's friends was awkward. Laura was chatting happily with the rest of her group about the events of her classes with Lovino and Heracles.

"And then this girl got up to talk about her summer holiday," Laura looked at Lovino and Heracles for them to add on to the story.

"And then she started talking about how she visited her grandparents and she puked everywhere," Lovino added to the story.

"Oh my God," Elizabeta leaned in and gave a look that said she was shocked and amused that someone would do that.

"It was all over the first row," Heracles added.

"That's disgusting," Roderick added in his input. He seemed to be disinterested in the story, but still felt the need to make conversation with the rest of the group.

"I know! And on the first day of school too!" Laura practically yelled. When she got excited, she talked quickly and loudly, Erika had a hard time following.

"So how'd you like your first day of school here?" Antonio asked Erika after the rest of the group went on chatting.

"Um, it was fine," Erika lied, shifting in her seat.

Antonio laughed, "Is that really how you feel?"

Erika gave him an incredulous stare, she wasn't sure why he cared so much about what she thought. "Well no, I was nervous all day and my hair wouldn't fall right today so I had to put it in a braid and not to mention I woke up late," she honestly told him. She wasn't sure why she told him that, it just felt right coming out.

Antonio softly smiled, "Well I like your hair like that," why did he tell her that? He should've just said that she looked beautiful today with her cropped leggings and blue pullover sweater that complimented her blonde hair beautifully.

"Thanks," she smiled at her hands in her lap shyly.

"Hey me Heracles, Roderick, and Lovino all play in the same soccer club, you should come see one of our games with Elizabeta and Laura," he offered, or more like begged her to come. He said it in such a way that Erika didn't know if she could deny him.

"I'd love to start watching soccer again," she gave her lap a sad smile, she wasn't sure why she kept smiling at her lap today. It didn't even deserve a smile.

"Again?" Antonio inquired, cocking his head to the side cutely.

"I'd love to come to one of your games," Erika corrected herself.

"Great!" Antonio beamed. Erika hadn't gone to a soccer game or watched soccer since Gilbert. She wanted so badly to hear his voice again, but she knew she never could. She never deleted the last voicemail he left her off of her phone, maybe one day she would, but she doubt that day would come soon. She had the voicemail memorized by heart:

"_Hey babe, I was just trying to call you to tell you that we won state! I know you're probably asleep by now but we'll talk about the big win tomorrow. I love you so much and I can't wait to see you_,"

But Gilbert never came to see her the next day. He had gotten into a car accident on the icy roads, although it was only November when the soccer team won state. She always wondered if the last part "_I can't wait to see you_," meant that she should come join him in heaven. She'd never kill herself, but she sometimes she couldn't wait to get to heaven to see him.

**So I'm getting my German mixed up with my English TT-TT all I could come up with for their little restaurant excursion was "Schnell Imbiss," but that's not even English... Well that's what I get for studying in Germany again **** btw, Mr. Yao is China haha yes I had a teacher like him **


	4. Chapter 4

It had been about two months since she started school as a foreign exchange student and it was now becoming winter. She was now sitting with Antonio, Roderick, and Elizabeta in her classes and she was slowly become more and more friendly with them. When she came home from school she did her homework and studied the language more to be able to communicate better with her friends, or rather not her friends, Laura's friends. Laura was always so supportive and helped Erika decode weird sayings in the language and answered any questions she had.

It was now fall, but it had been raining for the past two weeks. Laura assured Erika that this was normal for this time of year when they walked into school that morning. Now she was sitting in class next to Antonio and Elizabeta was next to her. She was trying her hardest to keep up with the language still, but all the teachers talked so fast.

As the school day progressed, Erika became more and more confused. She tried taking notes in her native tongue, although that was very discouraged. She eventually gave up and decided that she'd ask Antonio after class, he was sure to help her. Roderick was always less than kind to her, and Elizabeta was always willing to help, Roderick just had little to no patience for slow people.

Once the end of the school day bell rang, Erika didn't pack up her books. She looked up at Antonio, who was looking down at her with that same ever present stare. "Could you—would you, help me?" she asked him sheepishly.

Antonio's face slowly twisted into a grin, "Of course, what do you need help with?"

She opened her text book and pointed to the section that was most confusing to her.

"Oh boy, this might take a while. You'd better call Laura and tell her you won't be going home with her today, I'll take you home," he offered.

Erika saw that she really had no choice in the matter, so she just nodded, "Thank you so much,"

"No problem," Antonio turned his attention towards the text book, "So here's what you do," he began. Erika listened attentively and asked questions when she needed more clarification. Antonio was careful to use simple words that she could understand without being condescending, but it was hard not to cross the thin line between speaking simply and being condescending.

"So do you understand now?" Antonio asked after he explained the answer up and down, forwards and back.

Erika thought about it for a moment before nodding, "Yes, I think I understand for now,"

Antonio realized that he could get Erika's number, so he seized the opportunity, "Here, we'll exchange phone numbers and you can text me or call me if you have any questions,"

Erika nodded happily, "Great! Sounds like a plan, thanks so much again for your help," Antonio smiled and she read off her phone number to him which he hurriedly punched into his phone. He then gave Erika his number so that she could reach him whenever she wanted.

His gaze snapped to the time on the clock and sighed, "Well I guess I'll have to walk you home, there are no buses running right now,"

Erika cocked her head to the side at his comment, "But I thought you could drive,"

Antonio laughed at her ignorance of the culture, "We actually can't get driver's licenses that easily. The test costs a lot of money and the time you have to spend with instruction is insane," he started to get up out of his chair and Erika followed suit.

"Oh? I had no idea. Where I live I got my driver's license at sixteen and the test was easy to pass," she followed Antonio into the hall, and was saddened to see that the sky was still overcast.

Antonio chuckled, "And that's why there's all of these jokes about drivers in your country,"

Erika giggled, "It even worse during rush hour,"

Antonio stopped for a moment to try to decode what she had just said. "What's 'rush hour'?"

Erika stopped for a moment in front of him to try to explain, "It's the time where traffic is most heavy, usually around five o'clock in the afternoon. It's especially worse on Fridays,"

Antonio nodded his head as if he were trying to understand and then he started to walk again, "I think I understand it now,"

Erika giggled once more, "I suppose that someone who doesn't drive wouldn't understand it,"

Antonio shook his head and opened the front door of the school for her, "No I probably wouldn't, but I'm sure we have traffic here,"

Erika smiled, at least that was universal. She was feeling so out of place already.

Once they had exited the school and walked down the street a little more, Antonio spoke up again, "So how do you like it here?"

Erika's face dropped when she thought about Gilbert again and Antonio sensed her sadness. He wanted to say something, but he figured she should speak for herself.

"It's okay, I mean I like the people that I've met so far. I just feel so out of place, I don't dress or look like the other girls in school and I feel like sometimes when I talk no one understands me or they think I'm stupid," she honestly told him.

The sidewalk narrowed and Antonio was forced closer to Erika. "What do you mean you don't fit in with the other girls? Of course you don't!"

A pained expression washed over Erika's face at his words. Antonio didn't mean it in a bad way, and he needed to cover it up.

"I mean—your face. You can definitely tell that you're not from around here," Erika's face kept sinking and Antonio kept messing up his words. "B-But Erika, it's a good thing," Erika's hurt expression changed to one of confusion.

"What do you mean it's a good thing to look like an outcast?" she asked looking down at her boots and wondering if that's what Antonio meant about her not looking like the other girls.

Antonio grabbed Erika's wrist and turned her to face him. "Do you even know what people think of you, Erika?"

Erika shook her head wildly, "And I don't think I want to know," she protested. Antonio had already embarrassed her enough and if it wasn't for the fact that she had no idea how to get back to her host family's house and the fact that Antonio had her wrist, she would've run away.

"It's not bad," Antonio smiled softly. "Everyone thinks your beautiful Erika," he dropped her wrist and smiled bigger. "You just don't know because you've never wanted to know,"

He started to walk again, and Erika rushed to follow him, flushed at his compliment and feeling silly for wanting to run away from him. "Who thinks that way? If anyone thought that way, surely they'd tell me," Erika tried to corner him verbally and call him on his lie, but Antonio shook his head and stared straight ahead.

"I've heard it from a lot of people, you're just so shy that no one wanted to approach you and tell you," he honestly told her. Of course a lot of people knew that Erika was a foreign exchange student, and they also noticed that she was shy and nervous, so a lot of her peers didn't want to talk to her for fear of scaring her.

"Then why doesn't anyone talk to me? I'm not mean," Erika pouted. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to come to this place, maybe she was better off in places she knew.

"I'm not sure, have you tried talking to them before?" Antonio redirected the question back to her, trying to avoid revealing that he didn't really know why people didn't talk to her, or who had called her pretty.

Erika's eyes lit up, "Do you really think I'd have more friends if I could do that?"

Antonio was taken aback by her sudden change in moods, but then he consented to smile, "Of course I do, and hiding in your room when your friends are over watching movies probably isn't the best way to get to know your friends,"

Erika was sorely reminded of how on her second day in this country she opted to hide in her room instead of hang out with Laura's friends. She was amazed at how he remembered that after all of this time.

"You're probably right," Erika finally gave in.

"I know I'm right," Antonio smirked as he rounded the corner to Erika's house.

Laura came rushing out of the front door and down the stairs once she saw Antonio and Erika approach the home. "So you brought her back finally! Did you hurt her?" she turned to Erika, "Are you hurt?"

Antonio rolled his eyes and sighed, "I just helped her with homework, I didn't do anything,"

Laura walked to Erika and grabbed her hand, "You'd better not try anything," she wagged a finger at him.

"I never have and never will," Antonio placed his hand over his heart in a mocking manner.

"I'll hold you to that promise Antonio! Well anyway, thanks for dropping her off, I was about to send Abel after her," she started to pull Erika up the stairs.

Antonio rolled his eyes once more, "I was just helping her with homework,"

"Yes, he helped me a lot," Erika told Laura on Antonio's behalf.

"Glad to hear it, thanks Antonio once again! See you tomorrow!" Laura waved from her front door and shut the door before Erika had the time to thank him again.

Antonio waved unsurely and he decided to walk home. Laura was crazy sometimes.

Later on that evening, Erika was doing homework in her room in her pajamas. She remembered what Antonio said about solving this certain problem and she was glad that she could understand it now. She decided to text him and express her gratitude.

"_Thanks so much for the help today! I'm doing my homework and I actually understand it! :D_"

She barely had enough time to write on her paper before Antonio's reply lit up her phone's screen.

"_So glad I could help! Sorry if I hurt your feelings today, I didn't mean to __"_

Erika smiled at his concern over her, and typed back a quick reply.

"_Don't worry about it! It was my fault, I misunderstood._"

She waited a few minutes before Antonio finally replied, for some reason those few minutes that he didn't reply made her feel like he had forgotten about her. No doubt about it, Antonio was handsome and he was probably hanging out with that attractive blonde in their class right now. That blonde always had a thing for him; one could tell by the way she stared at him.

"_No, don't take blame for it. It's my fault. Well I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight Erika __"_

Erika smiled, maybe he did have time for a simple conversation with her after all.

"_Goodnight Antonio _" she replied.

Maybe with friends like Antonio and her overprotective host sister Laura, things would be alright in this new country. She was just culture shocked for the time being, and being away from her parents didn't help anything either. Of course it was always her dream to study abroad, and she was proud that she could do it, but it just wasn't quite home.

But maybe she didn't need it to be like home. Maybe home was the last thing she needed.


	5. Chapter 5

It was already the end of the week, and instead of burying herself in her studies Erika decided to take a break. Or rather, Laura begged her to take a break. She was now in the loft and she was watching movies with Laura and her friends. Well, some, like Elizabeta, Roderick and Antonio were her friends, but she didn't want to jump the gun with the others.

They were watching some kind of comedy as it appeared, but it wasn't very funny to Erika. It was more slapstick humor that everyone got but her. In her country, humor was more sarcastic and dirty, not so innocent. But still, she laughed out of politeness.

The movies ended in the next ten minutes and Laura moved to take the movie out of the DVD player.

"How'd you like it?" she looked over her shoulder and asked Erika.

"Um, it was good," she lied, not wanting to hurt any feelings.

"Oh bullshit. You didn't like it," Lovino bluntly and nonchalantly shot back at Erika. Erika blinked a few times, shocked that he responded so violently.

"Lovino! Don't do that to people!" Laura threw the DVD case at Lovino, who did nothing to avoid it because her aim was so off.

"Well maybe Erika's humor isn't our humor," Roderick coolly suggested, his arm around Elizabeta who was on the couch with him.

"Then what is your humor?" Lovino asked, he looked angry and Erika wasn't sure if he was angry or not. But then again, maybe it was just his face. He always looked angry.

"U-Um I don't know. Sarcastic humor is in most of our movies," she tried.

"Well that's not very funny," Heracles spoke up. He and Lovino were brutal sometimes.

"We have different cultures, maybe it is funny to her," Elizabeta chastised, albeit as coolly as Roderick had done previously. The two were like the mother and father of the group, and all of the others were their children. Erika always secretly wondered if one day they would get married, they seemed like a good fit for each other.

"Whatever, I'm hungry," Lovino looked disinterested in the conversation leaning back lazily on the bean bag chair.

"And what do you want me to do about it?" Laura innocently fluttered her eyes at Lovino.

"I want you to feed me," Lovino demanded.

"You know where the food is, go get it yourself," Laura challenged right back.

"It's your house, I'm a guest, you get it," Lovino wasn't backing down, and neither was Laura, she opened her mouth to say something back.

Antonio interjected before things could get too out of hand, "Or what if we went out to eat? It's only dinner time,"

Elizabeta nodded quickly, seeing that Antonio was trying to defuse the situation, "That's a great idea! We could just walk to our favorite restaurant; it's not too far of a walk,"

Roderick stood up, "Anyone who wants to eat out can follow me down stairs but don't take forever to decide," the tone in his voice sounded like he was tired of the situation already, he always played things so coolly. Erika wondered if it was a cover up or just his nature.

"Well I'd like to go," Erika spoke up. She wanted to get out of the stuffy attic and a walk would be nice, especially since it wasn't even dark yet outside.

"I'll go with you if no one else wants to go," Antonio offered. Erika smiled in reply.

"Fine, we'll all go," Lovino blurted out. He stomped down the stairs like a child and Laura looked at Heracles.

"What's wrong with him?" she asked.

Heracles shrugged, "Not sure," he lied. But Heracles knew very well what was wrong with Lovino; he just knew that if he told Laura, she'd find a way to get it out of him.

Eventually the group decided to just all go as a group to the restaurant and this time Erika opted for ordering a döner, just like Antonio made her do on her first day here. It also helped that a friendly Turkish couple owned the restaurant, and they were no strangers to Laura and her friends.

As they were eating, a thought crossed Erika's mind. "Hey Antonio," Antonio looked up from his food. "When is your first soccer game?"

Antonio smiled quickly and wiped his face just as quickly. "It's not until the spring, right now it's just training and stuff,"

Erika knitted her eyebrows, "Where I'm from boys play soccer in the fall and girls play soccer in the spring, why is it different here?"

Antonio paused for a minute to think. He didn't really know why they played during the spring, just that they did. Maybe it was the weather? "It's probably the weather, it's sunnier and warmer in the spring, but it still rains," he added with a smile.

Erika smiled back, "Well I'd love to watch you play,"

"Hey what about us? We play too," Heracles butted in their conversation.

"And Antonio is not even that good," Lovino added mercilessly. Antonio smiled out of embarrassment and tried to shake it off.

"Well I guess I'm not really, but I try," he was rubbing the back of his neck now, Lovino was so brutally honest.

"I think Roderick is the best," Elizabeta added in sweetly just like any good girlfriend would do. Roderick said nothing, but looked away, obviously troubled that Elizabeta brought him into this.

"He's a bench warmer," Lovino said with finality. He crossed his arms and his angry expression grew even more angry. Erika thought about his expression for a moment, and decided that Lovino would be quite handsome if he didn't look so mean all the time. Elizabeta laughed nervously and turned to Roderick, who still looked displeased. Her expression was one of "well I tried", but Roderick was not having it.

"I-I'm sure you're all great. Way better than I could ever be," Erika protested, she was shocked at how quickly Lovino could turn a perfectly good mood sour.

"Well obviously, we've been doing this longer than you have and plus we're in a country that is famous for being good at soccer, while your country is famous for being bad at soccer," Lovino told her coldly and matter-of-factly. Erika was still shocked at his bluntness, but she wasn't the least bit hurt about him pointing out that her country was bad at soccer. It was true after all, and you can't be hurt about the truth.

"Lovino what's wrong with you? You've been so moody tonight, maybe you should go home and sleep it off," Laura suggested innocently enough. Heracles gave Lovino a sideways glance, it was clear that Lovino was not ready to admit the truth now, or any time in the near future.

"It's nothing," Heracles answered for Lovino in order to avoid another fight between the two. "He's just being himself," the group laughed at Heracles's comment and the mood lightened a bit, but Erika wanted desperately to know what was wrong with Lovino. If only she knew him better!

She opted for a closer second choice; Lovino and Antonio were so close that they practically lived together, so she could ask him. "Hey Antonio," she called in a hushed tone. "What's wrong with Lovino? Is he usually this feisty?" she continued her low voice and Antonio leaned in to hear her better.

Antonio smiled and pressed a finger to his lips, "I'll tell you later, but I'm sworn to secrecy so if I tell you I might have to kill you," he winked playfully.

Erika's lips twisted into a girlish grin, "When can I know?"

"Come on a walk with me later this evening and I'll tell you," Antonio seized the opportunity to see her again, he was starting to think that his advances were too strong.

"Sounds good, around what time should we go for a walk?" she asked, hoping it wasn't too late.

"Around ten, the town is so cool at night," Antonio grinned in an I-have-a-secret kind of way. He wasn't sure if he was betraying his best friend by telling Laura's host sister his problem, but he felt that Erika wouldn't tell on him. Plus, she'd probably want to help once she found out what the issue was anyway.

"Okay, I don't know if my host family will let me out that late though," she spoke unsurely.

"It's okay; you're in the basement right? The great thing about windows here is that they open wide and there's no screen," he quietly told her.

Erika's heart raced at the thought of sneaking out. Could she get into trouble for it? Her host family didn't even lay down any rules for her. Maybe this was just one of those expected things. But something in Antonio eyes made her want to accept, maybe it was the glimpse of Gilbert in them that made her want to.

"Alright, I'll do it," she finally resolved.


	6. Chapter 6

**Reading stupid fanfics with a lot of Mary Sues has completely ruined my writing. The crappy writing is rubbing off on me! O:**

Erika felt obligated to sneak out with Antonio when he came to her window that night. She was never one to try to break the rules, but her host family had never given her any rules to break. Besides, she wanted to find out about Lovino and why he was acting so strange. Of course, it wasn't her place to know, and she knew that, but she asked the question and now she had to have an answer. Even if it was late at night, even if she was walking around town with a strange boy, and even if she wasn't entirely in the mood to be doing this. She felt like she was betraying Gilbert, she always felt like she was betraying Gilbert with she hung out with another man.

They stopped at a playground after much wandering and much small talk and Erika started to dig the toe of her shoe into the mulch.

"So what's wrong with Lovino? Can I know now?" she hastily asked, not bothering to look up at Antonio.

He laughed heartily, "You waste no time do you? Is being straight forward a cultural thing?" he added.

Erika bit her lip, "No, I don't think it is," she answered simply. Then she looked up at Antonio, eyes begging to know an answer.

He sighed and cracked a smile, "So you really want to know about Lovino?"

Erika nodded emphatically, "Yes, even if it's not my business,"

Antonio leaned in to Erika a little bit to get close to her ear, who did not shrink back beside her first impulse to do so. For some reason having him in her space didn't feel wrong, it felt strangely friendly and as if they had been friends for longer than they really had been. For Erika it was good to know that there was someone who didn't make her nervous in this place.

"Lovino has feelings for Laura, he just doesn't want to tell her, so he's acting like a little kid," he laughed breathily and drew back from her ear. Erika could still feel the hot heat of his breath on her ear in the cold night. It pulsated through her veins as a quick warmth, and then it was gone in a second, leaving her even more cold than before.

She realized that he wanted a reply to this big revelation, "So instead of telling her how he feels he hides it by acting like a child," she repeated.

"That's exactly it," Antonio confirmed.

"Well how is that supposed to accomplish anything?" Erika looked at the sky and squinted her eyes in thought.

Antonio laughed at the cute face she was making, "It's not. It's supposed to hide how he really does feel," he moved to sit down on a nearby swing. Erika joined him and sat down on the swing next to him.

"So can I tell Laura for him?" she asked more to her lap than to Antonio. She dug her heels in the ground and started rocking back and forth slowly.

Antonio shook his head, "No, I think that Lovino will either get over it or tell her how he feels eventually,"

"Well maybe he needs a little push," Erika offered. What kind of a "push"? She didn't know. There wasn't much that she could do given the fact that she was only friends with Laura and had no contact whatsoever with Lovino, who at times seemed a little less than accommodating to her presence in the group.

Antonio shrugged and started to swing a little. "Maybe he does need a push, but I'm not sure what we could do for him,"

Erika fell quiet at his statement. Maybe there wasn't anything anyone could do, and it wasn't right to force it if neither parties were ready for this big secret to be revealed. "I don't think we could do anything," Erika finally reasoned with a hint of sadness.

Antonio looked up at the night sky and smiled, "'People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those that are doing it,'" he recalled.

Erika stopped swinging for a second and thought about what Antonio had just said. Gilbert used to use that quote when he felt like all odds were against him. Erika missed the way he said it, but still it was bitterly sweet to hear someone say it again.

"That's George Bernard Shaw, isn't it?" she flatly spoke up with a small smile appearing on her face as she turned her attention to the mulch.

"You're right," Antonio hollowly replied. He seemed to be off somewhere else, dreaming almost. Erika always envied those that could dream, she could never do it very well. Sure, she had goals, but she never dreamed of what reaching those goals would be like.

"Do you think that it could happen for them?" Erika quietly asked, returning back to the original topic.

"I can believe anything as long as it is impossible," Antonio replied, still distant. It was a curious thing to watch Antonio in some place far off, some place where Erika wouldn't be able to go, but she would like to go. He seemed to always be happy, perhaps it was because he was always dreaming of some place better. Maybe dreams are what save us and provide a lovely little distraction from the present reality.

"Well if you have faith, then so will I," Erika resolved, trying pathetically to grasp at this dream that Antonio had. She wanted him to share it with her, so that she could go to a place where everything was perfect. She hadn't done much dreaming since Gilbert, because he was her dream, and now he was her memory.

"Have you ever had your heart broken?" Antonio suddenly asked, turning to Erika and coming back from this far off place.

Erika was taken aback, and it must have shown on her face, because Antonio hastily spoke up, "If you don't want to tell me, then that's fine, I was just wondering,"

Erika shook her head and tried to shake off the overwhelming sadness that was over taking her body and making her feel like even moving would be a burden. "I mean—I have, we all have," she replied, not ready to discuss Gilbert yet.

Antonio nodded understandingly. "I have too. I dated this girl for a long time a long time ago, and I wanted us to stay together and go to the same college together, but she had a different idea," he returned his gaze to the sky, and Erika craned her neck to look at him, he was so pretty when he dreamed. "And when she broke up with me, I didn't understand what I did wrong," he laughed humorlessly. "But now that I look back on it, it was actually really silly,"

Erika nodded, as if she understood it. But she didn't. Gilbert and her had been together since the summer linking eighth grade and ninth grade, and he never left her side until he had to. Antonio suddenly got up and stood in front of Erika. He grabbed the chains on either side of the swing and leaned in to her face. He studied her with a concentrated look on his face to which Erika's expression replied with a rather shocked and confused look.

"Will you please come to one of my soccer games?" he spoke just as suddenly as he moved.

Erika nodded quickly, still startled from the closeness of his face.

Antonio expression softened and Erika let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Then will you make me a deal?" he asked with a soft smile.

Erika nodded, "Of course," she replied without much thought.

"If I score a goal, you have to kiss me," his smile spread even wider and he stared into her sparkling green eyes, to which she stared back into his green eyes.

"Okay," she agreed, still not thinking, just looking into his eyes.

Antonio smile grew even more and he straightened his back and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Well I guess I should get you home before anyone notices that you're gone," Erika nodded and pulled herself up from the swing and she followed Antonio back to her host family's house.

Once safely inside her room with the window tightly shut and the curtain completely drawn, she turned to her book shelf. She had brought along a few books, such as a dictionary for foreign words, her favorite books, and of course all of her George Bernard Shaw plays and essays.

She knew the play that Antonio quoted from, and she opened the book and found the line in _The Doctors Dilemma_ that it came from. She had to admit, she never finished the play herself. She was up all night reading it when Gilbert was at his final soccer game, and opening the book also opened sadness, strewn across every page. But she wanted so desperately to see who the doctor saved, Mrs. Dubedat or his old friend? Even if the play reminded her of Gilbert, she knew that she couldn't spend the rest of her life avoiding things just because they were painful.

She decided to start reading.

** This chapter started off so poorly that I felt I had to work in some good literature to prove a point and make up for the fact that I've been reading too much horrible fanfiction by all too horrible authors. Ooooh my writing weeps TT-TT**


	7. Chapter 7

"Abel we need more food," Laura groaned, closing the refrigerator door with a frown. Just as Laura started to walk out to meet her brother at the table, who was on his laptop doing something for work it appeared, Erika walked up. Laura's face brightened up.

"Abel, let me and Erika go get the groceries today," she exclaimed, leaning over the top of a chair at the table.

Abel sighed fighting with Laura was pointless at best, "Fine, but do you even know what we need?"

"Nope, but me and Erika can make a list right now!" Laura insisted.

Abel shrugged, "Knock yourselves out," he replied passively.

"Erika, come help me make a list," Laura nodded towards the kitchen and Erika followed. Laura pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and sat on the counter. Erika searched the pantry and refrigerator while Laura wrote down what she told her to.

"Um I think we need sugar," Erika shook the container of sugar. She wasn't sure why she was put in charge of investigating the pantry, she was hardly qualified, but it was good practice in naming food items.

Finally Laura placed her pen down, "We'll just figure out what we need when we get to the store," she hopped off of the counter and went over to Abel, still sitting at the kitchen table.

"Can I have your car keys please?" Laura asked, leaning over the top of Abel's chair.

"Yeah, they're in the basket by the door," he told her very distantly.

"Thank you Abel, we'll be back soon," she gave her brother a quick kiss on the cheek, which he brushed off and otherwise ignored. Laura frowned and started to walk to the front door. Erika rushed to follow.

Once they got to the store, Laura retrieved the shopping cart and they started weaving in and out of the aisles while Erika pushed the shopping cart and Laura grabbed the groceries.

"So how do you like school?" Laura finally asked as she compared two different brands of sugar.

Erika opened her mouth to speak, but shut it again and a downcast look washed over her face. Laura turned to face Erika with the two types of sugar in her hands.

"What's wrong? Are you homesick?" Laura asked in a concerned tone.

Erika shook her head, still not wanting to tell Laura that the language block was really bothering her.

"Then what's wrong? I'm not good at guessing you know," Laura frowned and returned one of the sugars to the shelf and put the other in the cart.

"It's just that I'm so nervous about speaking the language. Sometimes before I speak I have to think about what case it is, find the direct objects, and figure out if what I'm saying is location or a change in state of being," Erika honestly told her.

"So that's why you're so quiet all the time," Laura nodded as if she understood. She turned the corner at the end of the aisle and Erika followed suit.

"Well yes," Erika confirmed.

Laura stopped and crouched down on her toes to look at the bottom shelf for something. "Well you can't just stop talking because you're afraid of messing up,"

"But I don't want to sound stupid in front of Antonio!" Erika blurted out. She immediately regretted bringing Antonio into this, she was sure Laura would question her about him. And she was right.

Laura raised an eyebrow up at Erika, "What about Antonio?"

Erika turned bright red. Laura glared at the bottom shelf, obviously not finding what she needed, and she stood up to give Erika an expectant look. Erika tried to push the shopping cart to avoid the subject, but Laura was in front of her and she grabbed the sides of the cart and leaned over.

"Don't tell me you have a crush on him," Laura challenged.

"U—Um… I don't," Erika protested, although she wasn't sure if it she liked Antonio or not, it was too early to tell and the language block was always in the way.

"Then why'd you bring him up?" Laura pried, she shot Erika an accusing look.

"Just because he always talks to me and I feel like I always mess up," Erika lied. Or was it even lying? She didn't know how she felt.

Laura held her gaze, looking for a hint of a lie in her eyes, before finally accepting this and letting go of the cart and she kept walking down the aisle.

"What exactly is going on between you and Antonio?" she asked as she picked up a few cans of food and then turned to leave the aisle.

"Nothing," Erika told her.

"Then why are you sneaking out with him?" Laura pried once more.

"W-what?" Erika asked startled. How did Laura find out?

Laura smiled at Erika as she led her to the produce section, "Antonio told me himself he wanted to make sure you wouldn't get into trouble,"

"Am I in trouble?" Erika asked, concerned. If she broke the rules, she could get sent back home.

Laura made a noise that sounded like air was escaping her mouth loudly and she rolled her eyes, "Abel doesn't care, just use the door next time. It's a lot easier to get in and out of,"

"Oh, thank you," Erika replied, not sure what else to say.

"So what did you guys do?" Laura asked, turning to look at some lettuce.

"We just went to the park and talked," Erika finally could honestly reply.

"And what'd you talk about?" Laura picked up two heads of lettuce and weighed them in her hands.

Erika wondered if she should tell Laura about their little bet. But she knew if she kept it a secret then she would never have that closeness she wanted with Laura. She resolved to do it anyway.

"Well he asked me to come to one of his soccer games in the Spring, and I agreed. But he said if he scores a goal, I have to kiss him," Erika stopped short, wanting to see Laura's reaction.

Laura's mouth hung open in surprise and excitement. "And what'd you say?"

"I said I'd do it," Erika smiled meekly.

"Oh my god! Really? You agreed to that?" Laura exploded with excitement, both heads of lettuce still in her hands.

"Well, yeah," Erika quietly told her.

"You guys are going to date," Laura nodded absently with wonder in her eyes.

"What? No!" Erika protested. Laura put a head of lettuce in the shopping cart and Erika followed her to the fruit section.

"It's going to happen," Laura persisted.

"No it's not! I can't even talk to him," Erika rushed, flushed and embarrassed.

"What? Sure you can," Laura told her as if it were silly that she even said that.

"Well I can't talk to him well," Erika corrected herself.

Laura put her hands on her hips and looked intensely at Erika. "Is it that whole language block thing? You speak our language just fine! I speak your language worse,"

Erika giggled, trying to ease the tension. "I'm sure you speak it fine,"

Laura looked around her and picked up a pineapple with one hand and pointed at it with the other, "Pine-apple," she slowly tried to pronounce. Erika giggled at her poor attempt to pronounce it. She put emphasis on the A in "apple" and added in an F where the P should be in apple.

"That really was bad," Erika admitted.

"See? I told you so. But I keep trying so you should too. Just have confidence," Laura encouraged her.

"But Antonio makes me forget all my words and when I talk I sound stupid and like I don't understand the language very well," Erika insisted.

"Have looked at Antonio recently? He's always got his head up in the clouds, he wouldn't even notice if you messed up," Laura shrugged.

"Yeah, he is a dreamer," Erika agreed.

Laura nodded and she started to lead Erika to the check-out line, a far off look in her eyes. Erika wondered what was with everyone here and dreaming. Or maybe Laura was just tired and zoning out.

"Well, dreaming aside, he is a nice guy. I wish that I could always stay as positive as he does. Maybe it's all that dreaming he does," Laura finally spoke after they got into the back of the line.

"You think he stays positive because he's always dreaming of something better?" Erika asked, finally understanding how Antonio could be so carefree and lively.

"Yeah, pretty much," Laura agreed. The two reached the front of the line and they started loading the groceries on the conveyer belt.

As Erika and Laura left with their bags stuffed full of groceries, Erika finally understood. For Gilbert, he would always be that guy that died in high school. He would never grow up, she would never see him at any high school reunions, he was forever a teenager, trapped and living only in memories. In a way, Gilbert wasn't dead. She always could remember the funny moments they had together, and she could always count on him to visit her in her sleep.

Maybe Antonio was on to something. Erika could dream all she wanted of Gilbert, and that would only keep her hoping for a little while, she always had to come back to reality. But maybe she could always hope for something better. She knew she wanted to live in this foreign country and teach her native tongue as a second language, and she knew that one day she'd transfer to a college here. There was always something to hope for. Even romance, if she wanted it.

When Laura pulled out of the parking lot Erika shot a text to Antonio. She just asked him how he was and how his day was going, to which he replied quickly and enthusiastically. She smiled at her phone and wrote him back a reply, to which he replied speedily again.

Of course it felt something like betrayal to be moving on after Gilbert, but she thought this opportunity too good to pass up. And it wasn't moving on if she didn't like Antonio, right?

That's what she told herself anyway.

But regardless of "moving on" or not, Laura was right. She couldn't expect to get all that she could out of her experience studying abroad if she didn't try and just hid behind the language block. And to top it all off, the sun shone through the dark overcast sky. Erika smiled; she took this as a sign from Gilbert that he was okay with her moving on.

Suddenly she was looking forward to Antonio's soccer game.

**Boring chapter, important revelation. Stay tuned for (hopefully) a better chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

Christmas break was just around the corner and it was the Friday before the last week of school. After this next week of school was over there would be two and a half weeks off from school, Erika was relieved to know that Christmas break was the same length as it was at her school back home. Once again Laura's group of friends, with the addition of Erika, were hanging out in the loft. It was a Friday night tradition to spend time in Laura's loft and in another week almost everyone was leaving to go skiing in the mountains, including Antonio.

"What do we watch now?" Laura asked, looking through a rack of DVDs on the floor and weighing her options.

"Let's watch something scary," Heracles suggested, lounging in a bean bag and looking completely uninterested. He always seemed to look exhausted and disinterested, it was a wonder to Erika why he even bothered to show up to hang out with them.

"No, I don't do scary well," Erika interjected. She was getting more comfortable around the group, although she wanted to always sound intelligent when she spoke so she sometimes had to think of a response and go through the correct grammar in her head.

"Okay that's fine. What about a chick-flick?" Laura suggested with a half-smile.

"No. No one wants to watch your stupid girly movies," Lovino shot back from another bean bag chair next to Heracles. Once again, he was in another one of his infamous moods. Or maybe he was always in this kind of mood, no one really ever knew.

Laura put her hands on her hips and tried to give Lovino her best glare, which Erika noted was very cute even when she was mad, "It was a joke, Lovino," she corrected. Lovino just rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coke.

"What do you think Elizabeta?" Laura asked her friend sweetly.

"I think we should watch an action movie, I feel like everyone could agree on that," Elizabeta replied wisely from the couch where she was in Roderick's arms.

"Sounds good," Laura nodded and searched the rack of DVDs for a suitable movie. The one she pulled out Erika almost laughed out loud, she had seen that movie before in her native language but they had dubbed it over here.

"I don't like that one," Lovino complained when Laura held up the DVD.

"Then why don't _you_ pick?" Laura grew angry once more.

"No thanks," Lovino waved her off.

"Then don't complain," Laura told him, still glaring at him.

"I won't complain if you didn't pick such bad movies," Lovino bit back. Things were escalating quickly, and Antonio was racking his brain for a way to calm everything down.

"Maybe we should do something else," Antonio quickly suggested, trying to defuse the situation. But his suggestion went unnoticed.

"Lovino why do you even come hang out with us if you're always so mean?" Laura challenged.

Lovino turned bright red, knowing why he kept coming to hang out with the group, but not wanting to tell her, or let anyone else know. Instead of replying, he got up and pulled his keys from off the floor and went down the stairs.

"Lovino!" Antonio stood up quickly and called his name down the flight of stairs, but Lovino didn't listen nor stop. The front door slammed with a sound that echoed through the house. All was quiet now, and no one moved or said anything.

But Laura knew how to break the silence, she burst into tears. Elizabeta all but jumped off the couch to go over to Laura where she was sitting.

"Why is he always so mean to me? It's just me. It's not anybody else. If he doesn't like me then why does he always come over?" Laura said in between sobs. Erika wanted to do something, Laura was always so nice to her, but she didn't know what to do. Elizabeta was stroking Laura's back and trying to console her, but Laura was visibly upset. Erika wondered why she could be so upset over Lovino's bad attitude. Did she like him? Is that why she was hurt by his difficulty?

Antonio sat down next to Heracles, "Should we tell her that Lovino likes her?" he whispered. Roderick watched from the couch, knowing what the two were talking about, but not wanting to intervene either.

"I don't think it's ours to tell," Heracles answered, looking to Roderick for his reply. Roderick hesitated, uncomfortable from the outburst of Laura and embarrassed at the way Lovino acted. Roderick finally shook his head and Heracles nodded.

Antonio shrugged and sat on the couch with Erika and Roderick. He felt guilty for not doing anything to help Laura, although he knew how he could help her. Elizabeta kept rubbing Laura's back and trying to calm her down.

"I think we should talk to Lovino," Antonio finally said looking at Heracles.

"If that's the way he wants to do things then I say we let him," Roderick interjected before Heracles could speak.

"But it's not fair to Laura," Antonio protested.

"We have to let him figure it out on his own," Roderick told him. Antonio sighed and finally gave in. He didn't speak about the matter again.

"I'm sorry for ruining everyone's night," Laura apologized once she was in a considerably better mood.

"Don't worry about it, Lovino is just like that sometimes," Heracles answered, trying to reassure her with his nonchalant attitude. But really, he was wondering if he should tell Laura about Lovino's crush on her and his immature behavior.

"Well whatever, let's watch that movie you first picked out," Elizabeta suggested as if Laura were a child. Laura nodded and put in the DVD, her face still blotchy from tears. But Erika still wondered why Laura cared so much about what Lovino thought, if he was just a friend why would she cry over his temper tantrum? She supposed she'd have to ask later.

It was Monday morning and Abel had to leave for work early that day. He took the only car that they owned and Laura and Erika were now walking together to school in the crisp morning air. Laura was rambling angrily on about Lovino, and Erika was trying to listen attentively. But in Laura's rage, she slurred her words, and Erika had a hard time following.

"You're so lucky you're in a class with Antonio and Elizabeta-,"

"And Roderick too," Erika added, not wanting to forget the wise man.

"Yeah. Him too. But anyway, you're so lucky! I have freaking Lovino in my class and I don't want to see his stupid face today," Laura clenched her hands into fists and walked quickly and with purpose up a hill. Erika struggled to follow.

"I mean he's always so mean to me! He's a horrible person in general but it's always directed towards me. Don't you feel that way too?" Laura directed the conversation towards Erika.

"U-Uh yeah. I guess," Erika managed to get out. The secret of Lovino's crush was weighing on her hard and she wanted to let it out but she couldn't.

"And Antonio called me this weekend and asked me to try talking to Lovino but I said no way. He can apologize to me," Laura stopped at the top of the hill and waited for a panting Erika to follow. It's not that Erika was completely out of shape, it was just that Laura was pumped up on anger and she walked quickly up the hill with little effort.

"Well why do you care so much about Lovino?" Erika put her hands to her knees and took a deep breath before standing up straight again.

Laura looked at her as if she asked a completely impossible question. Erika went over the sentence structure over what she just said in her head and thought that she said it right, but she wasn't sure.

"Because he's my friend," Laura mumbled unsurely before turning to keep on walking.

"Do you like him?" Erika blurted out before she could stop herself.

Laura turned bright red, "What? Of course not. We've only been friends forever,"

"Then it should work itself out right?" Erika asked with hope.

Laura shook her head, "I don't think this one can just work itself out," Erika left the subject there because they approached the school and went their separate ways. Erika wanted to help, but she didn't want to confront Lovino either for fear that he would make fun of her language skills. But then again, she had a month of training in a "monastery" as the kids with her called it. It was a full month of intensive training in the language, and she passed the program. So she could call upon all of her training and studies by herself to confront him surely.

When she reached the classroom she slipped into a seat next to Antonio. "Hey, are you meeting Lovino after school by chance?"

Antonio looked at her weird, wondering why she'd ask a question like that. "Yeah, I do. Everyday,"

Erika's mouth twisted into a smile. "Good to hear it," and she turned to take out her notebook.

"What are you planning?" Antonio asked, mimicking her smile and sensing that something was up.

"I just need to have a little chat with him," Erika's eyes flashed with a hint of mischievousness that Antonio had never seen before.

"I'm sure today's lesson will be hard. I'd better go study in the library after school for a while," he lied, trying to help her cover up.

Erika's eyes lit up, knowing exactly what Antonio was doing. "Well school is important,"

Antonio smiled in reply and Mr. Yao began the school day with calling role. She needed to get her thoughts in order. What could she even say that would change Lovino's mind? He was always so aggressive and it made reasoning with him almost impossible.

Well, she had spent so much of her time already mourning over Gilbert and feeling homesick and hiding behind the language barrier, it was time she actually did something for once.


	9. Chapter 9

** Ooops. Posted the wrong chapter (From a different story. WTF is wrong with me?) I was tired at the airport waiting for my flight to take me back home sooo yeah **

** To my (loyal?) readers, sorry I've been slacking on updating! You have noooo idea how hard German universities are. Especially since German isn't my first language and I've been going through my little dictionary memorizing as many German words as I can (XD) to ensure that I do well here. And it seems to be paying off **

Erika looked for Lovino by the main entrance where Antonio reassured her he would be. Lovino looked impatient and angry as he texted on his cell phone, and Erika was approaching him too fast to even think about what she was going to say to Lovino. She figured she'd just wing it and through caution (but hopefully not proper grammar) to the wind. She was nervous, but she reminded herself that she was here, in this foreign country, living her dream. And out of all the kids that applied for this exchange program scholarship she had gotten in, one of a total of two hundred and fifty accepted. That had to make her feel pretty special and confident in her abilities.

"Lovino!" Erika called as she approached him. Lovino rolled his eyes and glared at her.

"What do you want?" he snapped, giving her a disapproving stare.

"I just want to talk," Erika told him with a smile, trying to see if he reacted to kindness. But he didn't. He started to walk away.

"Wait!" Erika protested, jogging right after him.

"I'm not in the mood," Lovino yelled at her.

"But we need to talk," Erika insisted, trying to keep her cool.

"About what? I don't even know you," Lovino gave her a stare that mocked her and made her feel stupid, but she persisted.

"I know you like Laura," Erika blurted out without much thought. The look on Lovino's face was one of mortification, and he turned bright red.

"Who told you?" Lovino quickly asked, trying to hide his own embarrassment.

Erika shook her head, "It doesn't matter. But you need to know that treating Laura like shit isn't going to make her like you," Erika was shocked at her own ability to swear, because she was never one to swear, but it felt like the thing to do in this situation.

"I don't care if she likes me," was all Lovino could think of to say to help his pride.

"But you do care, because you like her. You wouldn't just like someone if you didn't want them to like you back," Erika challenged. For once she wasn't so worried about saying things correctly, she just wanted to say anything to make Lovino understand.

"But she'll never like me back," Lovino quietly said absentmindedly. And after saying it he cursed himself for being so soft.

"Not with the way you're acting right now," Erika agreed.

"So what?" Lovino regained his composure and went right back to being irritated.

"So you'd better apologize if you want a chance," Erika retorted, lifting an eyebrow expectantly.

"Whatever," Lovino started to walk away again.

"God damn, you're so stubborn. Just think about it," Erika called after him, but Lovino made no notion of having heard her. Erika sighed heavily, exasperated and not understanding why Lovino was so stubborn. It was only five words he had to say, just five. And he had to made it convincing. Anyone can say "I'm sorry, I like you," but Lovino didn't want to say it, or maybe he didn't know how. An arm wrapped itself around Erika's shoulders.

"Well that went surprisingly well," Antonio said.

"That went well?" Erika asked in surprise.

Antonio looked down into Erika's green eyes, "Normally he stomps off when you bring her up. At least he tried to listen for once,"

"Well, it's progress. I guess you just can't fix stupid," Erika said.

Antonio laughed, "Well you're coming out of your shell now,"

Erika's eyes lit up and she smiled at Antonio, "Yeah, once I got over the language block I opened up,"

Antonio hugged her close, "I like it better this way," Erika's cheeks turned beet red. Antonio had never hugged her like this. She decided to bury her face in his embrace and smell the scent of his cologne. Someone cleared their throat expectantly. Erika and Antonio pulled apart quickly.

"Is there something going on between you two?" Laura asked, shifting her weight nervously.

"Not yet there isn't," Antonio smirked. Erika giggled.

"Okay whatever. Let's go home Erika," Laura grabbed Erika's forearm and led her out the doors of the main entrance. Erika looked back and waved at Antonio, who softly smiled and waved back in return.

"Okay, so are you guys dating or what?" Laura asked while they were walking home from school. She was still in a foul mood but wanting to know the latest on Antonio and Erika.

"No, of course not!" Erika replied too quickly and forcefully than was necessary. Although she was ready to move on from Gilbert, she just couldn't bring herself to date someone else. It felt dirty. Like she was cheating on him.

Laura lifted an eyebrow at Erika, "Whoa, I was just asking,"

Erika sighed and shook her head, "I'm sorry it's just—" she stopped herself before she could go on. She remembered what her therapist, although stupid and someone the school appointed to take care of her emotional needs, said. He told her to talk about Gilbert more, so that she could get over it. But she had disregarded this useless advice, but maybe Laura had a right to know what was going on. This was her host sister after all.

"Just what?" Laura asked, stepping over an upturned brick on the sidewalk.

Erika sighed, it was now or never. "It's just Gilbert," Laura gave her a look of horror, as if Erika liked someone else other than Antonio. Erika shook her head, "Hold on. Let me explain," Erika went on to tell her everything. All of her sadness over him, all of her resentment towards other men and how something inside of her was telling her to come and study abroad, just to get away from it all. To see something different than the mundaneness of her everyday life that was polluted with memories of Gilbert. When she finished, Laura was looking at the brick sidewalk and nodding as if she understood. But Erika wondered if she even understood at all.

"That's so sad," Laura finally concluded. It was all Erika could do not to smack the palm of her hand on her forehead. That was Laura's big revelation from that story? That is was sad? Of course it was, no one ever really gets losing someone that you've loved so dear. But life goes on. It always goes too quickly on and suddenly everyone is over it, but you're not. And you'll never be over it. And everyone thinks you are, and they send you sympathy flowers and shoot you pained looks as if they understand, but they don't. And then life goes on.

Erika grew angry with Laura, and she had to clench her teeth before she said something wrong. Laura sensed the change in the atmosphere and spoke up again, "But," she held up her index finger and looked at Erika as if she wanted her to wait before popping off.

"But, you said that you felt like something was calling you here. Maybe Gilbert wanted you to come here, maybe he doesn't want you to be sad anymore. Maybe he loves you enough that he's okay with seeing you love someone else, as long as you're happy," Laura lifted her gaze from the sidewalk to look at Erika and shoot her a sincere smile. The sincerest smile Erika could ever recall seeing when the subject of Gilbert and his tragic accident was brought up.

"I think he is the kind of person that would like to see you happy. So if you don't want to date Antonio, then fine. He's a great guy and there are other girls that will like him too, but you should know that you deserve to be happy too. You _deserve _someone like Antonio after all you've been through," Laura finally spoke her mind, pleased with how her words came out so effortlessly. "And I'm sure Gilbert feels the same way,"

Erika smiled and had to bite her finger to stop herself from crying tears of joy and sadness carelessly kneaded into one. It sounded silly, but Laura referring to Gilbert as if he were still alive made her happy. Everyone she's ever talked to about Gilbert always talked about him like he wasn't alive anymore, but as long as Erika had his memory, he'd always be alive.

"That's the most sincere thing anyone has ever said to me," Erika wiped a tear from her cheek and through her tears she laughed. Laura stopped to give Erika a sad look and she shook her head, she wanted to cry as well. Instead she wrapped Erika in a warm embrace, and she held her until Erika assured her that all her tears were dry. When Laura pulled away, her eyes were red as well. Erika wiped a tear off Laura's cheek and laughed.

"What are you so sad about?"

"No one cries alone in my presence," Laura told her with a sniffle. Erika remembered how her mother always said that, and she immediately felt even more homesick, although she'd never confess it to her parents after she so eagerly left her home to come here.

"Thank you for being such a good friend," this time Erika gave Laura a big hug. "And I do like Antonio," she confessed before pulling away.

"I knew it! And he totally likes you too!" Laura yelled, excited that Antonio could finally find someone decent.

"Okay, but that doesn't mean we're going to start dating right away. He's leaving for break so I won't even see him," Erika told her, feeling much better after talking with her host sister about the huge secret she was trying to keep hidden.

"But we could always happen to go skiing while he's skiing," Laura wriggled her eyebrows mischievously.

Erika laughed, "No way in hell!" and then she quickly changed the subject after she realized she forgot to tell Laura about Lovino, "Hey by the way I talked to Lovino after school about you,"

Laura grabbed Erika's arm roughly, "And what'd he say?" she looked nervous and totally intrigued at the same time.

"Well I told him he'd better apologize if he wants a chance with you," Erika summarized.

Laura pouted and let go of Erika's arm. "He doesn't want a chance with me he just wants to be mean,"

Erika remembered her promise not to tell Laura about Lovino's feelings until Lovino did it himself. She decided to dance around the topic, "You'll never know until you ask him," she decided on.

"Well when will that be—" they rounded the corner to the house and Laura stopped in her tracks. Lovino was sitting on her door step, and when he saw her he stood up and looked into her eyes. Erika looked from Laura to Lovino, and then back to Laura again. She decided that something important was about to happen, so she opted to go inside and give them some privacy.

"I'm going inside to make some after school snacks. I'll make you something," Erika excused herself and unlocked the front door.

"I waited for you," Lovino softly told Laura.

"Well what for?" Laura replied angrily. Erika shook her head and shut the door behind her. It sounded like everything was going just about right out there.


	10. Chapter 10

Erika groaned as someone shook her awake the next morning.

"Wake up you lazy whore," Laura said. Erika sighed heavily and rolled over and pulled the sheets over her head, she planned to get up. Eventually. And what was Laura doing up so early? She came in after she was talking to Lovino and told Erika that she'd be out with Lovino that evening, and then they stayed out. All evening. Until maybe midnight at least, because that was when Erika heard the front door slam.

"I'll get up eventually," Erika waved her off.

"But we have to leave soon," Laura whined.

Erika pulled the sheets from her head and squinted at Laura in question. "Where are we going?" Erika calmly asked, still obviously sleepy.

Laura sat down at the edge of Erika's bed. "We're going to Lovino's soccer scrimmage,"

Erika pulled the sheets back over her head, "I don't care. Go alone or call Elizabeta,"

Laura bit her lip, "I was going to go alone, until Antonio called and asked me to bring you. Something about a kiss I think it was," Laura wriggled her eyebrows.

Erika quickly pulled the sheets from her head and jumped out of bed, "Help me get ready," she ordered Laura. Laura laughed and went straight to work on picking Erika out an outfit.

"What time do we need to leave? Do I have time to shower?" Erika asked, running to the bathroom to brush her teeth and comb her hair.

"Well it's nine-forty five, the game starts at ten o'clock so no. I don't think you have time," Laura replied, pulling out some dark jeans and a sweater paired with a matching scarf. When Erika came rushing back into the room Laura handed her the clothes, and Erika stripped immediately and hastily pulled on the clothes. Not caring that she almost lost her balance trying to wriggle her way into her skinny jeans.

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner? What should I do with my hair?" Erika snapped out of panic.

"Sit on your bed, I'll French braid it to the side and tie it in a bun," Laura replied calmly. Erika sat on the edge of her bed while Laura did her hair exactly like she said she would. All that was left was to grab her coat and some gloves and head out the door.

"Who has a soccer scrimmage in the dead of winter?" Erika complained, walking up that cursed hill to get to the school where it was to take place on the field.

"People who are dedicated," Laura replied.

"Whatever," Erika rolled her eyes. "So what did you and Lovino do last night? You were out pretty late,"

Laura blushed in reply and buried her nose in her scarf and her gloved hands in her pocket.

"Oh my god! Are you guys together now?" Erika gushed.

Laura shook her head quickly, "No, nothing like that. We just kissed and stuff that's all," Laura turned even more red and buried her face further in her scarf.

"So pretty much you guys are messing around," Erika reasoned, nodding as if to tell Laura that if she didn't tell her what was going on, she'd assume the worst.

Laura took the bait, "No, no, no! We're not dating yet. It's like you have to ease into these things you know?"

Erika thought for a second. It was kind of like her and Antonio, so she understood perfectly. "Yeah, I do know. But how did this come about all of the sudden? You hated him twenty-four hours ago!"

Laura smiled meekly at Erika, still obviously embarrassed on the subject, "Well he liked me—"

"Duh," Erika interrupted.

"And I liked him. So he apologized for being so mean, and I asked him why he was always so mean to me, because I was worried that he hated me for some reason. And then he blushed and he told me that he didn't hate me, and that it was the opposite. So I asked him if he liked me, and he blushed even more and nodded. Then I told him I liked him too and we kissed. The end," Laura summarized for Erika.

Erika knitted her eyebrows and cocked her head. "It was that easy?"

"Yeah, it was," Laura smiled, obviously happy that the event happened.

"So let me get this straight. All of the drama could have been avoided if Lovino would have just had some balls?" Erika asked, mentally cursing herself for being a good friend to Antonio and not spilling the big secret to Laura when she could have. Laura looked like she was weighing her options before finally nodding.

"Wow," was all Erika could muster before the two made it to the soccer field at the edge of the school. The game had already started, and they were late. The two girls sat on the table of a picnic table on the soccer field and Laura scanned the players for Lovino. When Laura's eye finally rested on Lovino, he looked up and smiled at her. Laura waved giddily back.

"Wow, so you guys completely changed overnight," Erika observed, giving Laura an incredulous look. It was just that easy. All along. Lovino just had to confess his feelings and then bam, everything was good again.

"Yeah. We just weren't on the same page and now we are, that's all," Laura told her matter-of-factly.

"So are these guys good or am I just wasting my time?" Erika asked changing the subject. It was chilly outside, and she really didn't feel like staying outside to watch a team that's going to lose. And plus she was tired. Skyping with her parents late at night just wasn't working for her, she had to find a different time to do it.

"Well they're good. But the other team is better. So we'll have to see," Laura told her. Erika saw Antonio, and she waved at him. But next to Antonio was Roderick, and he appeared to be playing too. Erika looked around but didn't see Elizabeta anywhere, they were usually inseparable.

"Hey why isn't Elizabeta here? That's Roderick playing right?" Erika inquired.

"Oh Elizabeta is at her family's condo in the mountains skiing. I think Roderick is going to meet her there in a few days or something," Laura replied, never taking her eyes off of Lovino. They had only confessed their feelings for each other in the past twenty four hours and they were already acting like they had been together forever.

"That's nice," Erika added just so that Laura knew that she had her. The game had just barely started and the other team had already scored a goal. Erika groaned, it was going to be a long game if this continued.

Erika and Laura made small talk throughout the game and it was clear that their friend's team wasn't going to win, although they did hold their own pretty well, they were only two points behind the other team.

"Well we're done for," Laura finally said, looking bored with the game and not as excited as she once was.

"We were done for when that team stepped onto the field," Erika pointed out.

"At least the boys had fun," Laura tried. The game soon ended and much to Erika's disappointment Antonio never scored a goal. And even if he did score a goal, it probably wouldn't have counted, seeing as it wasn't even soccer season yet for them. After the game the trio of sweaty and smelly boys went to talk to the girls at their little picnic table. The first thing Lovino did when he reached Laura was plant a big kiss on her lips, Erika tried to hide her shock, but not very well.

Antonio laughed, "They completely changed overnight," he told Erika.

"It's a good change," Roderick pointed out.

"It definitely beats them yelling at each other," Erika agreed.

"Let's go out to lunch," Laura suggested to the group, but Erika knew that it was just a ploy to spend more time with Lovino. But of course, she wouldn't mind spending more time with Antonio either.

"Sure, let's just get out of the cold," Erika shivered as if on cue. The wind definitely was slicing, and the dampness of the day didn't help very much either. The group walked away from the school and into the town to their favorite little café. When they reached the café Erika and Laura ordered a pizza to share and the boys ordered their own individual meals.

Laura and Lovino were all over each other the whole time. Laura always had her arm around him, her head on his shoulder, her hand on the leg, pretty much anything she could do to touch Lovino was done. But of course, Lovino didn't help the awkward situation either; he was all over Laura as well.

"Is this what it feels like when Elizabeta and I are together around you all?" Roderick finally asked. He certainly felt like the third wheel, except for he was more like the fifth wheel in this case.

"No, it's more comfortable than this," Antonio replied nodding towards Laura and Lovino who appeared to be paying no attention.

"I just cannot believe they changed so fast," Roderick observed, turning his attention to his food rather than dare be interested in anything that was going on.

"I'm not sure how genuine it is," Erika admitted. "But at least they're having fun,"

Antonio smiled at her words, "That's the spirit,"

Maybe it was the spirit. Her time here was halfway over and what had she done with her time? Absolutely nothing.

It was time to accomplish something, and time that she fully let go of Gilbert. In order to let go of Gilbert she had to move on. And she knew exactly who to move on to.


End file.
